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Naira Watch: External reserves down to 3-month low
June 15, 2017

The nation’s external reserved has dropped to $30.22 billion, the lowest level in three months.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this Wednesday on its website.

The apex bank revealed that the external reserve dropped to $30.222 billion on Tuesday June 13th, representing a weekly decline of $68 million when compared with the $30.290 billion achieved the previous Tuesday of June 6th.

Vanguard analysis revealed that the new level of $30.22 billion represents the lowest level since March 14th, or 13 weeks ago, when the reserve was $30.23 billion. The reserve has been on the downward trend since May 4th when it reached a peak of $30.99 billion. Since then, the reserve has dropped by $770 million.

Meanwhile, the naira Wednesday remained stable at N364 per dollar in the parallel market due to weak demand for dollars.

Vanguard survey revealed that the parallel market exchange rate, which dropped to N364 per dollar on Tuesday, rose to N365 per dollar yesterday morning, but dropped to N364 per dollar at the close of business.

A bureaux de change (BDC) executive who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity said the stability of the naira was due to low patronage and expected dollar sales to BDCs today. The CBN sells $20,000 to each of the 3,145 BDCs across the country twice in a week specifically on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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